Colin Darts
Ship name / Flight number: RHMS Australis
Arrival Date: 13/11/1965
b. 20 February 1949
When my mother went into labour with me, she didn’t know that she was giving birth to triplets. I was born on 20 February 1949 and weighed a healthy 8 pounds, 6 ounces. My sister weighed in at 7 pounds, but she was still-born. Two days later, another foetus was also still-born.
I grew up in Bedford, England, with my older brother, Robert, who still lives in England. I went to Kingsbrook primary school followed by the Silver Jubilee Secondary Modern School for Boys. Even though I passed the 11+ exam, I wasn’t offered a place at a grammar school. Our headmaster only picked the students who passed the 11+ exam with flying colours and I must have had a lower pass.
I completed the GCE (General Certificate of Education) and excelled in physics, maths and geometrical and technical drawing. I failed English because I didn’t like the teacher – he was obnoxious.
Before I finished school at the age of 14 years, we had some people come and talk to our class about careers. I was thinking about going to university until a man from the BBM came and talked about started a new life in Australia. This was more appealing to me, so I gathered all the information and spoke to my parents about it. They weren’t against it, but were hoping that I might change my mind. My older brother had already left home and joined the merchant navy.
I went to London and had my interview for the BBM at Australia House, which made me even more determined to go. I passed my medical test, completed the paperwork and was offered a berth on the next available ship, which was the TSS Fairstar departing in August 1965. However, I declined the place because I needed to work and save some money to help me when I got to Australia.
I delayed my departure by two months but, unfortunately for my mother, this meant that I said goodbye to her, and my father and Aunty Freda, on her 40th birthday – 15 October. They came to bid me farewell at Waterloo Station and I sailed from Southampton on the RHMS Australis on 16 October 1965. I was off on my big adventure, bound for the other side of the world.
Our first Port of call Piraeus in Athens, Greece, followed by Port Said in Egypt, then through the Suez Canal to Port Suez and onto Aden. We crossed the Indian Ocean and sailed directly to Fremantle. When I saw the west coast of Australia it was love at first sight. I loved the big open spaces and beautiful sunshine. I left England when it was cold and wet and this was the opposite. We spent a couple of days in Fremantle, then sailed for Melbourne, but there was an issue with docking there, so we went straight to Sydney. Coming through the heads late at night, I could see all these lights and thought it must be a big city. My first view of Sydney was the magnificent harbour bridge. It was amazing. Opposite the bridge they were building the Opera House – two shells were up – it is a very fond memory.
After clearing customs, we were taken by car to Marrickville to stay in a boarding house for a couple of days then to the BBM training farm, Calmsley Farm on Cowpasture Road, Cabramatta. I had two weeks there before moving to Berry in NSW on 30 November to work for John and Jeanette Galbraith on their dairy farm. It was bloody hard work. I worked six and a half days/week.
The only time I got homesick was on my first Christmas. I was expecting snow and cold, and it was hot and we went swimming. The Galbraith’s were so nice to me – they included me in their Christmas celebrations and gave me presents. I met Jeanette’s Mum and Dad over Christmas lunch then we went back to the farm to milk the cows.
They were a lovely family but I didn’t like dairy farming. I started looking for something else. I applied for a job at BHP in Wollongong as a boiler maker/welder. I passed the entrance exam and they offered me a job but unfortunately, because I was still 17 years old, I was on junior wages and I had to pay for my own accommodation, tools, and work clothes, so I just couldn’t afford it.
One Saturday I was reading the newspaper and saw an advertisement to join the army and learn a trade on adult wages. I joined the Australian Army having just turned 18 years old in 1968.
My new home was the army camp at Bandiana, near Wodonga, Victoria. I did an electronics apprenticeship and became an electronics technician. It was a good move in more ways than one. I met my future wife Judith (Judy) across the border in Albury, New South Wales. My friends were going to a dance and needed another man in the group so they asked me to come and partner Judy. It was like a blind date. We were married about 18 months later on 10 January 1970 and John and Jeanette Galbraith represented my parents at our wedding – we were both 20 years old. I used to write to my parents every fortnight, so they knew about this important event in my life.
During my electronics apprenticeship I learnt to fix radios in military tanks and APCs (Armoured Personnel Carriers). When I was offered a transfer to army aviation, I took it because it was much more exciting. I did an avionics course and learnt how to repair radios in aircraft. My career in the army really took off (literally) when I was posted to Papua New Guinea for six months. I flew all around PNG in two fixed-wing aircraft and four helicopters. It was 1969 and PNG was still a colony of Australia. We were surveying the landscape of PNG and I saw an awful lot of the country. My role was to repair the radios and make sure they were working as it was the main form of communication for pilots when they were in the air. We used to do all the safety checks in the morning.
I came back from PNG in late November 1969 and married Judy in January the following year. After our honeymoon in Adelaide, we drove back to Albury and prepared to move to the airbase at Amberley in south-east Queensland. We were barely settled when I was called up to serve in the Vietnam War. I left in June 1970 and came back in July 1971. I was away for nine months before I had some R&R.
I was posted to Nui Dat and went out on patrol, flying with a pilot on reconnaissance missions to make sure that the radio was always operational. It was the most horrible 12 months of my life. The things you saw and the things we did were not very nice. Years later, Judy said to the boss of the Department of Veterans Affairs: “you sent my husband to Vietnam and you sent me back a different person”.
After Vietnam, I was promoted to sergeant and transferred to Sydney, where I was in charge of the electronics instruments and radio workshop.
And then I got out! In 1973 I left the forces mostly because I wanted to go and see my parents. I couldn’t get leave without pay, or an exchange to work in England and I didn’t have enough annual leave for a decent break. Judy and I went for six months, toured the UK and Europe, and I introduced her to my parents and my brother and his wife. It was great.
While I was in England, I convinced my parents to come to Australia, so in late 1974, my mum came, and in early 1975 my dad followed. They were 48 and 57 years old respectively. My mum worked for us in our family business, a milk bar in Albury, and my dad got a job as a gardener at Lake Hume which supplies water to much of Victoria and Adelaide.
We purchased our first home in Albury for the staggering sum of $12,000.
Our first child, Serae, was born in 1975, and to allow Judy to spend more time with her, we sold the Smollet Street Milk Bar business for a very good profit and I went to work for Sanyo. They were building TVs in Wodonga and I was the technical services officer. I worked for them for about four years and enjoyed working in electronics again. It was good to have a job close to home as our son, Jarrod, was born in 1978. Then a job came up with a company called Australasian Training Aids in Albury – they built target systems for the military. I was their production engineer and travelled all over Australia fixing and maintaining their target systems. They sent me to Texas for six months to install new target systems for the US Military.
Judy was at home with our kids but decided that she wanted to go back to work and got a job with the NRMA and then Preston Motors in the office as a clerk/administrator.
In 1985, we bought a four-in-one business in Albury that included a retail store selling TVs, videos, and sound systems; a video (VHS and Beta) rental store; a repair division to fix TVs and video players; and a rental business for white goods and stereos. I ran the business for ten years with Judy who kept the accounts, paid the bills and paid the wages for our four staff. The business was called Electronic Enterprises and it was very profitable.
In 2001 I went to work for the Department of Defence on a design project for the ASLAV (Australian Light Armoured Vehicle) and leopard tanks. I worked with a team of engineers for three years designing the product, testing the giros in turrets of both vehicles and doing a few other things.
When we finished the project, the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) assessed me and said I needed to get out of the workforce due to my PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) from Vietnam. I had fought it for nearly 40 years – the anxiety, chest pains, nightmares, and difficulty sleeping and breathing. If I go into a room with no windows, I still feel like the room is closing in on me. Medication helps me to manage the symptoms and I’ve learnt to live with it. As a result of the assessment from DVA, I got a DVA pension and a gold card at the age of 55.
Since then, I’ve dedicated my life to some charities such as RSL, Legacy, and the Sailor’s Soldier’s and Airmen’s Club (SS&A) in Albury. I’ve served on many boards as president or secretary. This is further evidence of how those 12 months in Vietnam had such a profound impact on my life. In 2021 I was awarded an OAM for my services to the veteran community. I didn’t go looking for recognition but it’s still nice that my work was acknowledged.
In 2013, after 6-8 months of solid training, I walked the Kokoda Track over nine days. No matter what sort of training you do, it doesn’t prepare you for the emotional and physical impact. The first two days were really tough but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I did it with a mate and his son. My son was going to come, but couldn’t get away from his business. I kept saying to myself: ‘I’m not carrying a gun. I’m not being shot at’. It was very emotional. Everywhere we camped was a site of a huge battle where men lost their lives. When you’re on the track, there’s no electricity, no internet access, no phone reception, and you eat whatever you are carrying. It was like being back in the army in some ways.
I am also a member of the Morgan Country Car club, so named after bushranger Dan Morgan who comes from this area. Recently I took my vintage cars – a 1963 thunderbird and a 1967 MGB – to an event at Burrumbuttock celebrating 150 years of the town. There was a parade of vintage cars down the main street. I enjoy servicing both cars myself.
We now live on ten acres in a nice house outside of Albury. Nine acres is a paddock with sheep and the remaining acre has sheds for the cars and equipment, our caravan for when we want to be grey nomads, orchards and a vegetable patch. Judy and I are both members of the local Horticultural Society – gardening is our shared hobby and passion – it’s what we do together. Judy is also a volunteer at the local Vinnies shop and makes greeting cards. We are fortunate to have five grandkids who live within driving distance.
Sadly, my dad passed away aged 92 and mum when she was 88 years old. They had the most wonderful life in Australia and made more friends here than they ever did in England. My brother has visited about ten times. He would have loved to move here, but has children and grandchildren and his wife’s family in England and wants to be near them.
I am thinking about going back to England in 2026 for my brother’s 80th birthday. We weren’t really close as children because he joined the merchant navy and left home when I was 14 years old. He came to Australia before me on a merchant ship, and he teased me about this. He loves Australia, too.
I didn’t keep in touch with anyone who came out on my ship in 1965 but have re-connected with some other Little Brothers more recently. Through my vintage car club I met Harry Biddel, who’s a former LB and we’ve had some good yarns. After 5-6 years of friendship with Roger Tilley, I found out that he was a LB as well as a Vietnam vet.
I’m 76 years old now and can still do most things. While it was difficult for my parents, I know I made the right decision to come to Australia when I was 16 years old and I’ve never looked back.